Never Say Never
by wretched witch
Summary: 15 year old Chloe had a rather bad day. She sees what she thinks is a ghost, is send home for skipping school and now she is moving again? Can it get any worse than that? Oh yes it can.
1. Chapter 1: New Start

_Hello there! This isn't my first story, but I really hope it's the best. _

_Let's start with a little introduction of me, so you know what yo expect._

_I am 16 years old. I am from Germany, but I currently live in Nebraska because I'm an exchange student. This computer doesn't belong to me. It's host parent's. That's why I might not be able to update too often. But I'll try._

_I dedicate this chapter to my loving host family because they welcomed me so warmly._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Darkest Powers. Be thankful for that, it wouldn't be nearly as good if it was mine. (Wouldn't mind playing with Derek a little, though ;))_

**Caution: This is an Alternative Universe. If you mind that, you probably won't like this story!**

Chloe PoV:

"What_ did _you do to your hair, girl?!" Her wide eyes were fearful, probably because she feared my father would fire her for not doing her duty as a nanny. I had the decency to feel bad about that.

In school that day I had dyed red highlights into my hair. It made me look a little more grown up, I thought. At 15 years of age, people still mistake me for 12. My blond hair and blue eyes made me look young and not even cutting my hair had helped. Actually, I hadn't even had my first period until today, which I always thought was strange, since I was the only one I knew who was so late. My aunt Lauren says it runs in the family, unfortunately.

Something even stranger than my first period occurred today, though.

I saw a ghost.

No, I am not insane. At least I hope I'm not. I had started screaming like crazy and I was so scared, I just wanted him to leave. And after wishing him away for about a minute, he disappeared. So, anyone else would they are crazy, but I don't think I am.

My necklace reminded me of my childhood, when my mother gave it to me as an amulet against the bogeyman. I remembered how I would always see ghosts everywhere, which babysitters mistook for imaginary friends. But since I had the necklace – a medieval looking thing with a bright red gem – it had stopped and I hadn't thought about it ever since.

That's why I don't think I'm crazy. I don't know what I am, but insane I am not.

People did wonder at my screaming though, but I just stuttered out a lie about how I was shocked because of my hair. Yes, I stutter when I am nervous. It's embarrassing, really, but I didn't want anyone to know about the real reason for my screaming.

Of course, after seeing how I had just skipped the principal called my housekeeper to take me home and think about how I couldn't just miss my classes for that.

My poor nanny.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." I did feel bad for worrying her. She always at least tried to be nice to me.

"Oh, this can't be true. Not right now. Did you not listen to a word I told you this morning? Your father won't like that at all, I'm afraid," she muttered. The murmuring continued, unintelligible things about the same matter, undoubtedly.

"What do you mean?"

"You are moving! Your father is coming home tomorrow so that you can move in together. I told you this morning. Don't you listen?" She shook her head and walked off to the kitchen, saying something about making dinner for me, even though I don't deserve it, but I didn't listen.

We were moving? Again? But why? I was so tired of moving all the time. I didn't want to find new friends again. But if my father was coming home already, the matter was decided. And there is nothing I can do about that.

As if I didn't have enough problems already. What a day! I saw a ghost or something like that, my first period started, I dyed my hair and skipped class for the first time and I'm moving again.

Definitely a great start.


	2. Chapter 2: Realizations

_Disclaimer: "I don't belong to you! You are not Kelley Armstrong and Derek doesn't like you! Oh, and remember when you were a toothpick? HAHA" - Darkest Powers_

_I was just insulted by books..._

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Chloe PoV:

I was giving my father the silent treatment and he didn't like it. You must know, I don't see my dad that much since he always works. And now not talking to him, even though he is sitting next to me – a rare occurrence – is not exactly nice.

But I didn't care.

I've had to move and change schools more often than most other people I know. I rarely made real friends since I couldn't spend that much time with them anyway.

Now, I had found a school which I really liked. One where I could really focus on my movie directing, which is my passion. He had promised me I could stay there, that we wouldn't have to move again. I'm not likely to hold a grudge and I am very understanding with my dad. I know he would rather I could live a normal life, but unfortunately he was required to move and he wouldn't leave me behind. I understand that. But that doesn't mean I can't be mad for a little bit.

I do have to admit that the house he had bought was quite charming. And he promised that I was old enough now to stay here, that I wouldn't have to move with him again if I didn't want to. I didn't answer him.

After another few fruitless attempts to get me to talk, he let me explore the house while he went to get us some dinner. I decided I would talk to him when he got back. After all, he did feel sorry for moving me so much and he wasn't mad at me for putting red streaks into my hair either, so it would be mean to not talk to him. He was leaving on a business trip in a couple of days anyway and I should feel thankful for the beautiful house.

It wasn't ostentatious, didn't have a big pool or something like that. It was a quaint 2 story home with a Tudor style look to it, marked by the mixture of red brick and half-timbered walls, the gables and the tall, narrow windows. There was a pretty little garden in the back yard with no flowers. Someone would have to plant them in spring. A couple of trees surrounded the house, the beautiful red and yellow leaves starting to gather on the ground.

Downstairs was a bathroom, a big kitchen and a living room. Every room was fully furnished, so I guessed this had been planned for longer then I knew of. A small wave of anger rushed through me, but it instantly resolved when I went upstairs and found my room. It had its own bathroom and TV, a comfortable looking queen size bed and dark blue walls. The windows had heavy, dark blue curtains and looked as if they might be made of velvet. I was in love.

I started unpacking all my things in my white closet and white Anglo-Japanese style dresser, very delicate and in direct contrast to the heavy look of room as a whole. The dark wood floor was warm on my feet and it made working much more comfortable. I wasn't even halfway through all my stuff when dad came home with delicious smelling pizza. Even though I was rather far away from where we had lived before, I liked it.

I was about to run down the stairs when I saw a bodiless head, all bloody and gross, lying on one of the stairs. Distracted I screamed and didn't pay attention to my feet and fell down a flight of stairs.

My father came running towards me, worry evident in his eyes and asked me if I was okay, if I needed to be taken to the hospital? But I didn't think about the pain, my eyes were fixed on the spot were only moments before I had seen a severed head.

And with that, all the fear I had about that image, all the stress from moving and the throbbing pain in my head, which I finally acknowledged, I lost consciousness.

* * *

I was getting sea sick. I was wobbling up and down, a rather unpleasant experience considering I just woke up with a bad headache.

I opened my eyes to look around me and it seemed like my father had picked me up and was now carrying me to the car. We hadn't made it far though. He hadn't even carried me through the kitchen, where the staircase was.

"You can let me down now, I don't need to be carried. I'm going to be sick if you keep that up!" I groaned. My stomach was doing somersaults, still experiencing falling downstairs, I suspected. And I would rather not empty what little is left in my stomach on our new kitchen floor.

My father tried to protest, but I knew how much strain it put on him to carry me, so he gave up and sat me on a dining room chair. Thank Goodness for that! For a moment there I thought he'd drop me.

Sleepily I looked up at him and assured that I was fine. "Would you just get me a Tylenol, please? I don't think I hit my head that hard and nothing is broken." I smiled for further assurance.

He didn't look entirely convinced, but grateful that I was talking to him and that we didn't have to start – that I didn't have to start – my life in this town with a visit to the hospital, he let it go and went to get a painkiller for me. "Pizza's on the table, if you're hungry. I got your favorite."

Pepperoni Pizza. Not my favorite, hasn't been since I was 8, but I needn't tell him that. When he came back with the Tylenol I had eaten one slice and told him how good it was and thanked him. It wasn't a lie, really. I was just exaggerating a little. But this place definitely made good pizza.

A couple of hours, 2 pills and 3 slices of pizza later, I felt ready to think about the reason I fell down the stairs.

1) I was insane

2) I could see ghosts

3) all the stress about moving and my menstruation made me imagine things

4) someone pulled a prank on me

I felt confident no one pranked me, so number 4 wasn't it. I didn't think it was number 1 either, so that fell away too. And even though number 3 sounded like the best option, it wouldn't entirely explain the thing I saw in school. Sure, one could argue that the fumes from the hair dye messed with my brain a little, but two times in a row seemed like a bit too much coincidental to really be. And if this was a movie, I'd be screaming at the heroine to admit to herself that there is something wrong with her because otherwise something really, really bad will happen.

With a sigh, I did just that.

Hello, my name is Chloe Saunders and I can see ghosts.


	3. Chapter 3: High School Horrors

_So I spent half of yesterday writing in my notebook to get another chapter to write on this computer and guess what? It takes me half an hour to write 2 pages o.o' _

_This chapter is dedicated _Fanpire4000 _for telling me about the song 'Never Say Never' by the Fray. It was really good!_

Disclaimer: I don't own: Darkest Powers, Kelley Armstrong or any of the characters mentioned in the story. I don't even own Lily because I read her name in 'Dangerous'. Gosh, Kelley Armstrong is amazing! So, I just borrow the characters to play a little :)

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Chloe PoV:

It was Monday. We had moved here on Saturday, spent all of Sunday unpacking the rest of our stuff and now the dreadful day has come on which I start at a new school. Again. My father had already packed his things again, seeing as he was leaving on a business trip in a couple of hours.

We had eaten take-out since we came here, but since I was 'old enough' now, I would somehow have to start cooking for myself. Thankfully everything was within walking distance here, so I had no problem with buying groceries. The actual problem here is... I'd never cooked a single dish in my life. Food poisoning, here I come!

The school looked nice. It was about the same size as my former school, not too big and not too small, in my opinion. It was a normal, small town public school. The principal, a man in his mid-forties with graying hair and bulging eyes sat at a table staring intently at some papers when we came in. He didn't even look up at first.

When he did look up, I wished he hadn't. During my introduction he had stared disgustedly at my red streaks before forcing a small smile on his face. It didn't look sincere. My father was in too much of a hurry to notice though. He kept looking at his watch to check the time and barely listened to what the principal said, just nodded and smiled at me every once in a while.

"...And I'm sure Chloe will find everything to her liking. No worries, Mr. Saunders, she won't be in any trouble under my watch. Of that you can be assured. No one makes trouble at my school without me finding out." The last bit he said directly to me and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his statement. I tried to clear my face of any emotion when I saw his triumphant smirk, but a small, confused frown remained.

By no means had I ever been considered a troublemaker. The teachers I had never got mad with me and my grades, even though not always straight A's, were never below a C+. I never teased different looking students, never had an attitude with adults... it might sound presumptuous, but I dare say I am a teacher's dream come true.

So, because of colored red streaks I have become trouble? That is not fair. I wondered just how many people were treated badly because of prejudices about their looks. I had never really considered what consequences looks have. I admit, I am guilty of judging people because of prejudices about their looks too, but I had never even thought about how wrong I might be.

When we were shown to my second period class, I was glad. I didn't really want to dwell on things I am guilty of. Now I had different problems to worry about. For example, finding friends in a new school and getting along with new teachers who might have the same opinion about me as the principal. Oh, and let's not forget about me seeing ghosts, spirits or whatever they are. I had been thinking a lot about what I had seen, but I still didn't really know what the matter with me was.

This school didn't have a film analysis class or really any class that has to do with movies, they had informed me, but I was welcome to join the school's video club. Therefore my schedule was nothing like the one I had before, so I had to adjust somehow. My dad, who had given my shoulder a fatherly squeeze at the news, bid me a quick farewell and with a kiss on the forehead he was gone for another unknown amount of time. Now I was all by myself.

Taking a deep breath I entered the class. It is always hard to start at a new school, but I do think it's even worse when you start mid-semester. In the beginning of the school year there are usually at least a couple of new students, so it's easier to not stick out like a sore thumb. But now, as I went up to the teacher to introduce myself, it felt like every eye was glued to me.

"Okay class, I want you all to be nice now. Miss Saunders, would you like to introduce yourself?" Reluctantly, I agreed and faced the class.

In a chick flick, the new girl would turn to the class and look right into the eyes of an unbelievably gorgeous guy, who would smile a heart-stopping, crooked smile at her. She would blush, stutter out her name and where she's from and the completely clueless teacher would assign her the seat right next to Mr. Gorgeous, who still hadn't taken his eyes off her. She falls head over heels in love with him, but of course he has this cheerleader captain girlfriend who is queen bee of the school and blah blah blah.

Sadly or thankfully, I'm not sure, my life is no movie and there was no gorgeous guy smiling at me. Stuttering was involved due to me being nervous, but even though people were welcoming, they looked rather bored.

So I smiled, sat down, and awaited the end of my first day at another new school.

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In my fourth period I sat next to a nice – although rather chatty – girl called Lily. She was very excited about me having moved here and she seemed rather convinced we were going to be the best of friends. Lily was the first one to try to befriend me, so that gave her imaginary brownie points. Even more excitement followed when she found out that we had fifth period and lunch together as well.

"Hey, Chloe, you know, my boyfriend's really cool and cute and would probably like if you sat with us at lunch. His brother and he, they just moved here, too. His brother isn't cute thought, so don't get your hopes up. For some reasons, all the girls are jealous of me for being with him, but I like you and I hope you don't throw yourself at my boyfriend. No offence, really, you don't seem like that kind of girl, but I just want to make sure we understand each other." Her face was hopeful and even though I felt slightly insulted by her little rant, pity was more prominent within me. How many friends had proven to not be friends at all because she had got the guy that everyone else wanted? It is hard to lose people you think of as friends and then they turn around and are mean to you because you have what they want.

I patted her shoulder awkwardly, trying to be comforting but not really knowing what to do. "Don't worry, I'm really not looking for a boyfriend." She looked thankful and gave me a quick hug. What came next was unexpected, to me at least: She started gushing about how great he is, how sweet his texts are, etc. Wide eyed I tried to concentrate on the class instead, not needing to hear praises about a guy I didn't even know.

"Do you know the answer to that question?" a boy, whom I hadn't noticed before even though he sat right next to me, asked. He seemed a little younger than I, his shaggy red hair fell into his eyes and freckles covered his pale skin. The strangest thing were his eyes though. I probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been that close to me, but his eyes were strangely... _lifeless_.

I looked at my sheet, trying to see if I had written any problems down, but couldn't find any. "I'm sorry, what problem do you mean?" I smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown. There was no one beside me. I turned around, searching for a head of red hair among my classmates, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Lily, do you know whereto the boy next to me disappeared so quickly?" I blushed, embarrassed my question. A nagging feeling in my gut told me I was being foolish.

She confirmed my suspicion that no one had been sitting next to me nonchalantly. She seemed still too distracted about her report of her boyfriend to question me further, thankfully. How do you explain to your possibly first friend at a new school that you see things? No one could be mad at her for not wanting to be friends with a weirdo like that.

I had goosebumps all over. My first instinct was to start crying, but I didn't. Next instinct was to run screaming, but I refused to do that either. Lastly, I thought, after the third strange sighting, I should seriously do some research. As soon as possible.

I just wasn't sure what exactly to look for. 'seeing things other people don't'? Yep, I would definitely _not_ find anything helpful with that on google.

When the bell rang to signal it was time for lunch, Lily practically glowed with excitement. She almost pushed me through the lunch line and towards an empty table. Yes, it was empty. My face must have shown my confusion because she explained:

"I'm usually never first because I don't want to be stuck with Derek, that jerk brother of my boyfriend's, you remember? But now that you are here, I don't mind that at all! Who knows, maybe he'll even be nice because you're new and everything! Oh look, there they are!" She started waving like crazy and I was surprised she didn't start running towards her boyfriend. The two boys that were coming our way didn't look like brothers at all. Actually, the seemed like polar opposites.

The smaller of the two was maybe a half-foot taller than I, slender with high cheek bones. He wore his dark blond hair in short, messy spikes and his almond shaped, brown eyes distinguished him as Asian. He had a friendly smile on his face and I guessed he was Lily's beloved.

The other guy was huge, at least 6 feet tall with wide shoulders and if it weren't for his acne, that marked his puberty, I might have mistaken him for an adult. His dark hair hung in his deep, emerald green eyes that betrayed no emotion. He was good-looking, I thought – still thinking about my prejudices – but his pubescent complexion would undoubtedly scare most girls off. Not that I was interested in changing that!

"Simon, look! I found a new friend! Her name's Chloe and she just moved here. Isn't that exciting?" The way she was looking at Simon – as I had suspected it was the blond guy – she sort of reminded me of an excited puppy that had been left alone for too long and was now glad to see their owner again. I fought hard to suppress a grin at the thought.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Simon and this," he waved a hand in his brother's direction, who just grunted in acknowledgement and settled down opposite from me ",is my brother Derek. So, how are you liking our small town so far?" As he said this he sat next to Lily and put his arm around her shoulder. A happy sigh escaped her and she looked as if she might melt.

"It's nice, I think. I just got here, so I didn't really get to explore yet," I admitted. I looked around wistfully. Here I would spend the rest of my high school time, if my father stayed true to his promise. Oh joy. Movies that play in high schools always portray different groups of people sitting together at lunch, but I couldn't really see anything that most people had in common. More so, it seemed like everyone was talking to everyone they saw. Truly small-townish. In my opinion that was scarier than the movie picture. I didn't exactly feel comfortable among people that all knew each other. I felt odd.

I found the face that the brothers didn't look as if they were brothers even more odd. "Please don't mind me asking, but are you two really brothers?"

"identical twins," was Derek's reply, who still didn't look at me. His voice was surprisingly smooth and I started blushing like crazy, for some reason.

"We're foster siblings," replied Simon after hitting Derek's shoulder. "Don't mind my idiot brother, we're still teaching him manners." He winked at me. I nodded, smiled and started eating my food, which I had totally forgotten.

Talking to Lily was out of the question now that her beloved boyfriend was here. She was consumed by his very presence and wouldn't stop staring at him. I hoped I wouldn't be like that when I have my first real relationship. It seemed beautiful and pathetic at the same time. Beautiful because she looked as if she could die this moment and be happy to have spent it with her Simon, pathetic because she didn't pay attention to anything or anyone beside him and he didn't look nearly as in love as she did.

"You know, we could show you around town, if you want us to. Tonight I have a game, so maybe no tour today. Or maybe if Derek wants to show you around...?" He shot his brother an imploring look. Derek's eyes got wide and he choked on the food he had been gulping down hungrily. He obviously didn't neglect his food like I did.

I was at a loss for words. If I said yes, I wanted to be shown around tonight then Derek might have to do something he really doesn't want to. On the other hand, if I said it could wait, then it might seem as if I didn't want to spend that time with him or worse, Lily might think I want to steal her boyfriend, even though she had warned me not to get to close. What should I do?

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_Good question! What should Chloe do? What would you do? Push the button and tell me ;)_

_Oh, and aren't you proud of me for writing more than usual? I know I am proud :)_


	4. Chapter 4: Excitement

_Oh my goodness. I can't even begin to explain how undeniably happy I was when I read all those reviews. Some people might say they are not that many, but it is a lot more than I had ever dared to hope for. Especially the content of the reviews made me very, very happy. I would love to just write everyone's name here, but I'm afraid that would be a bit much... I wrote replies though, to convey my happiness. I hope you liked it :) _

_This chapter came easily to me. I edited it only once, so please excuse mistakes. I'm just so excited to get it up here!  
_

_So I want to thank everyone, like I said, but I want to give a special thanks to _Emmoria _since I used her idea. I asked for permission though! _

Disclaimer: Do I look like I might own Darkest Powers? If I do, then I must disappoint you. It's not mine and never shall be. Unfortunately. But this plot I found somewhere in my evil mind and it came out to share. Isn't that nice?

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Chloe PoV:

Two weeks passed before anything else interesting happened.

Not that those weeks hadn't been interesting! I had spent most of my time with Simon (and Lily, who was practically glued to him). Don't misunderstand me, Lily was a great friend, but she seemed to lose her ability to think or focus on anything beside Simon when he was around. And after school she rather spent her time with Simon then with me.

So, the only time I had really spent with Lily was in class, where she was most wanted company. Though she'd had severed the ties between her and her former friends – or they with her, I wasn't _entirely_ sure about that – she could still tell me all sorts of stories about everyone and everything. I wasn't usually one for gossip, but it helped me not stand out too much with all the knowledge I gathered about these people. For example, whenever someone approached me to talk, the first topic would always be some gossip and it was easier to follow when I actually knew the background stories.

Admittedly, some things I really mustn't know, and I just tried to ignore stories about sexual escapades of my new 'peers'. That was just knowledge that made me uncomfortable.

Lily really got into telling stories, especially when it was about relationships. Whenever she had 'juicy goodness' (as she called it) about couples to report, her eyes got wide and sparkled and she flailed her hands around to illustrate what she was talking about. It was fun to watch.

Simon, too, was really nice. And I wasn't the only one to think so. I had learned that he had something like a personal fan club of girls who unsuccessfully try to get his attention. Several of these girls had tried to get me to stay away from him the very first day after school. I had thought it very strange, especially since the girl who was obviously in charge was maybe two years older than Simon. As far as I knew Simon was something like the star of the basketball team and in a school as small as this one it must make the girls crazy.

After that not so nice encounter I had made it clear that I wasn't interested in Simon, to him and everyone else who thought I might snatch him. He had laughed it off and given my shoulder a friendly squeeze, so there were no hard feelings between us. A little embarrassment was there, but he hadn't dwelt on it. He was still really nice and helpful, always smiled at me and showed me his drawings, which were really good. Since I was such a movie freak myself, we found there were several topics we could talk about. After all, what picture comes after which in a comic is very similar to where to cut a scene into shots, when to have a close-up and stuff like that.

And then there was Derek. Derek, Derek, Derek. I don't know where to begin with Derek!

First I should mention how absolutely appalling showing me around had been to him. He hadn't even really tried to be polite about it, but I thought that was due to his shock at the prospect of having to spend time with me. Derek had choked on his food and stared at his brother as if he had gone insane. Then he said something along the lines "You know that's a bad idea", grabbed his stuff and practically ran out of the cafeteria without ever looking at me. It hurt. I had tried to soothe Simon and Lily, who had seemed incredibly sympathetic with me, with an excuse about having to unpack anyway. Technically, it wasn't a lie.

Simon and Lily had given me a tour the next day after school, but there wasn't much to see so I won't bore anyone with details of the small mall, the cute little diner and all the other things any normal town has. Derek hadn't come with us.

Derek hadn't talked or apologized to me either, but that was strangely fine with me. I liked watching him though. I don't think anyone had really noticed, thankfully. Mind you, no one can argue with me about the fact that Derek is a very interesting character.

There is, for one, the fact that he doesn't talk much. It makes him mysterious and I had always been far too curious for my own good. Sometimes, when I had dared ask him a question at Lunch, he had looked as if he might want to reply but can't decide whether it is advisable or not.

That may not actually be considered interesting enough to watch someone for some people, but for those who had a faint idea about Derek and his character it was highly fascinating. Or maybe only for me. Derek, as far as I had gathered, _never _showed emotion; not on his facial features and not even in his eyes. You can rarely see them, which is rather seldom since a person's eyes often gives away emotions they try to hide. But not with Derek. These few, short moments when he struggled with himself for an answer (or no answer), every emotion he felt flew over his face for a split second. And that was most

certainly worth watching.

My second reason are his eyes. Derek's eyes were captivating. The few times he had looked at me had taken my breath and my thoughts away. It felt as if through his eyes he penetrated my very being, could see every thought I had and could feel exactly what I felt. With just a short look at me, Derek could shake my whole world up. And I loved it.

Even with a lack of emotions shown in them, I felt convinced that sometimes I could detect a shimmer of emotion in those emerald eyes. I admit, it had been more annoyance than anything else, but it had given his eyes a certain sparkle that made me weak in the knees. Which is quite an accomplishment, since I had always been sitting down when Derek spared me a glance. It was never more than a quick glance, unfortunately, but it still had that power I described and provoked more unfathomable emotions that I cannot explain.

So these two weeks had been fairly normal, very nice, but probably too normal to be considered exciting enough to hear about in detail. Even saying that during those two weeks I had seen several more ghosts, which I most certainly had and had successfully recognized them as such (ghosts) during an encounter with an old lady.

I had met her in the grocery store, completely unsuspecting and blissfully unaware that the old lady that had been talking to me was among the dead. Sure, some people had looked at me strangely, but I had thought that had been due the fact that I was talking to someone more than five times my age, at least. When I had arrived at my new home and the very same woman I had been talking to stood in my kitchen, I had been scared to death. Or almost at least. She had still been nice though, and had explained how she was dead, but wouldn't hurt me. She had just wanted someone to talk to. So there I go, I was seeing ghosts.

Don't let my cool demeanor while telling this fool you: Some night I had cried myself to sleep, disturbed by what had become of me and the face that nobody would believe me in case I wanted to tell. And all Internet research had been in vain. There wasn't anything to be found. At least not until I knew what exactly I was looking for. I simply guessed I must be something like those people in those shows, _Ghost Whisperer_ or _Medium_. But that still didn't help me much.

No, those two weeks hadn't been successful enough to be important. What came then will be surprising to you, probably.

Because I had changed schools so often in the past, I had missed several sections of math that were crucial to what I needed to know. The counselor had said I was behind in most my classes, but too far in math and if I didn't prove that I could catch up somehow, I would need to repeat the year. I'll explain why this is interesting for you:

At the Lunch with my usual companions Lily, Simon and Derek, I was quieter than usual, brought down by the idea of having to graduate a year later than anticipated. There was simply no way I could catch up in math. Insert a heavy sigh right here.

But with me so quiet, the amount of conversations being held at the table equaled zero. I wasn't even in the mood to analyze other people's behavior – cough, Derek, cough – or compare ordinary school life to movies I'd seen.

Chloe Saunders – that's me, in case you didn't know – was in a rather bad mood. You would be too, if you were in that situation. It didn't take a genius to notice the change in my mood and Simon, who might be no genius, isn't stupid.

"What's up Chloe? You're awfully quiet today." He tried not to show his concern by stuffing French fries into his mouth right after he spoke.

I fought hard not to roll my eyes at him. But I didn't. I just said: "I'm kind of in bad mood" and pulled my face into a grimace. Simon looked at me and waited. When I didn't say anything, he _poked_ me. He poked me!

"What was that for?" I asked, as innocently as I could and batted my eyelashes like those pathetic girls in movies. I was playing now and he grinned. "Mission accomplished." He poked me again and Lily looked slightly disgruntled about him moving around. The way she was clinging to him, it must have been uncomfortable.

"Holy Moly, Chloe, don't make me pull the reason out of you word for word. You can talk to me" He opened his eyes as wide as he could and his bottom lip quivered. It looked completely ridiculous and I couldn't help but laugh at him, which – I concluded by the grin on his face – was clearly his intention.

I sighed heavily like he expected the impossible from me and told him the story of me being behind in math. And then I whined a little about not wanting to repeat a year, but I only whined a little. Simon looked very thoughtful for a minute, then pointed his finger in the air and acted as if he was turning on an imaginary light bulb above his head.

"How about you get a tutor. Surely you will be able to make up anything you don't understand when you just try hard enough and have someone who can explain it to you. Just take an hour or two everyday for a couple of weeks and you're even smarter than anyone else in your class. Better sacrifice some afternoons than waste a whole year, right?" Simon looked rather proud of himself and I had to admit, I hadn't thought about that possibility. But then again: "I don't really know many people here. Especially anyone who could tutor me."

"Derek usually helps me with math. He's really good at it, very smart and a good teacher, too, even if pretty impatient. And I think he owes you for being so rude anyway. Derek?" Derek didn't look happy. Actually, he looked downright furious with Simon. He glared at Simon like he just told me his biggest secret or something else private. If that look had been directed at me, I might have spontaneously burst into tears, I'm sure.

"Derek would love to help you Chloe, right?" Simon didn't even blink. The way they were staring each other down, it seemed a little strange. It felt almost as if they had been talking about me, had they? My heart did a little jump in my chest at the thought of Derek talking about me, but I won't admit to myself that it might be because I felt flattered. From the few words he ever spoke one can't say that I had a foundation to liking him. _I'm just too curious for my own good,_ I told myself.

"Sure." Derek shrugged, looked at me for moment and went back to concentrating on his lunch.

"Great! Just come over after school and don't forget your math stuff. Dad won't mind. He'll be excited to meet you, really. And I can show you my new comic project I'm working on when you're done with math. You can use my cell to call your parents and ask if you can stay for dinner. Actually, never mind. I forgot you live alone. Sound good though?" I just smiled and nodded.

"Thank you for the invitation. And thank _you_ Derek, for helping me. I really appreciate it." I smiled at him, trying to convey that he didn't necessarily have to help me, but I'd still like him to. It was a sad attempt, considering that he wasn't looking at me and I hadn't expected him to. He shrugged again, though, which was more than I thought I'd get.

I shook my head to clear my mind from irrational disappointment and turned to Simon to strike up another conversation, but unexpectedly Lily did first.

"We could have a 'welcome Chloe' Party at your place this Friday, couldn't we? That would be a lot of fun. Just us and some movies and pizza and chips and whatever else you want. I volunteer to plan it, If you let me, Chloe." Lily had a hopeful little smile on her face, the excitement clearly visible in her eyes as she looked at me pleadingly.

She wasn't the only one though and only a moment later the whole table was looking at me expectantly. "Well, sure. As long as we don't call it 'welcome Chloe' Party I'm fine with it. Sure sounds like fun!" I waved my fist in the air in mock enthusiasm. Lily's attention turned back to Simon after flashing me a happy smile. She would probably spend the time until Friday planning the not-for-me Party with me in class.

I told it got more exciting, didn't I?


End file.
